Aurangabad, Feb 9 (PTI) Residents of a village in Maharashtra have utilised the lockdown period to clean up an old stepwell and raise the level of its water which is now being used by locals for non-drinking purposes.

If found fit after testing, the water will also used for drinking, a local panchayat official said.

Located near a temple at Raipur village in Parbhani district, about 200 km from here, the nearly 40-feet-deep stepwell had been lying unattended since a long time, local gramsevak Dattatray Padghan told PTI.

During the coronavirus-induced lockdown, some villages came together and started cleaning it in April last year, he said.

"After about one-and-a-half months, it was fully cleaned and because of the removal of all the sand and debris lying inside, the water level has now been come to a depth of 20 feet," he said.

If found fit, the water will be used for drinking in the event of a scarcity, he said.

The villagers also contributed over Rs 30,000 to deploy a crane for the task of removing big stones and other debris from the stepwell, former Raipur sarpanch (village head) Gulab Gadekar said.

There is a hall located near the stepwell and water collects over its terrace during rains.

Hence, the villagers plan to do rainwater harvesting there and channelise the water to the stepwell during the next monsoon season, Padghan said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)